Reviews

The Convenience of Indecision

No matter what songwriters think, it's no big deal to be able to write a sad song about all your heartaches. It is a big deal to write a sad song about your troubles that anyone else will be able to identify with, however.

Ah, there's the rub that catches so many indie rockers these days. It's a minor point, but a sticky differentiation, to be sure. It's one that catches up with Sorry About Dresden very quickly on The Convenience of Indecision. Although the band gets itself all worked up on nearly every track on this album, it's usually just spinning its wheels ineffectively and doing nothing to make audiences really care about its private bitch session.

Not that Sorry About Dresden is an over-the-top, whine-fest act. Well, maybe, just a little bit: "The Happy Couple" uses "It must be wonderful/To be so miserable" as its chorus. Outside of that, things aren't too unbearable. Oh, wait. There are more than a few slow-motion jogs through what would be grueling, if played at normal speed, post-hardcore tracks ("A Reunion of Sorts" and "Hosanna in the Highest" spring to mind most quickly). Other than that - and an occasional tendency to sound remarkably like Cursive's kid brother ("Deadship, Darkship" and "It's Not Early Anymore") - Dresden doesn't give listeners a whole lot to be sorry about.

Sarcasm aside - for real this time - Sorry About Dresden has a lot of the tricks that post-emo rockers may be looking for. Unfortunately, all of them seem second hand. Whether the band wavers between downtrodden indie numbers that have little to no get up and go in their sleepy mix (a technique that can be stark and effective when used correctly) and a more energetic post-rock sound (one that's comparable to Thursday or, obviously, Cursive), Sorry About Dresden doesn't give fans anything they can't find in a more pure form elsewhere.

Charitable listeners may cut Sorry About Dresden some slack it probably deserves, though the glut of skeptics in the indie world are going to have a hard time swallowing The Convenience of Indecision.